Monday, February 25, 2013

Too late to call for David Nicholson to resign

The Mail is keeping up its campaign to get David Nicholson, NHS Chief Executive, to resign (eg. see article) . If he was going to resign he should have done so in 2009 (see previous post). The previous government had already started to change the top-down approach (see previous post). This has got lost in the current government's wasteful reorganisation (eg. see previous post) but David Nicholson has been a steadying influence in the upheaval. That's why David Cameron can't let him go at present.

What Nicholson should be asked to state is where he stands on his claim on Mid-Staffs that “While this was an awful case, it was highly unusual that such poor quality care and patient complaints could go undetected in the NHS for so long and we will make sure this will never happen again.” This was wrong and he should be made to say so. Perhaps the government response to Francis report will say this.